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Parents should limit their control over career choices

posted Nov 7, 2016, 9:00 AM by Leah Reep

As anyone would know, choosing a career is a stressful and life changing decision. Of course, your parents will be there to help you choose, but are they helping too much? According to GTI Media Research, more than half (54%) of students that were surveyed [on parental control of their future job choice] said that their parents tried to exert too much influence on their choice of careers. At Conway Springs High School, our senior class is awaiting graduation and choosing a future career is a crucial decision.

As a student, you are looking for the best career that would not only make you successful in life but also happy. Parents typically push the highest paying jobs and the most successful colleges (usually the most expensive). Though parental guidance through this process is encouraged, I think that it puts too much pressure on the student to please and make their parents happy. I believe that it is impacting career choice in this way, and could possibly cause students not to want to go to college at all.

Students should stand up to their guardians if they are being forced into a career. If they do not, they could possibly be unhappy with the rest of their lives, making it harder for them to have a good living for themselves and future families. Parents tend to lead their kids into the lives they could not have themselves, and they want to live in the shadow and have their child be successful in things they could not do themselves: to feel young again, one could say. Some students end up choosing their happiness, and parents get angry and not want anything to do with their own child. However, this will often pass and they can return to a healthy relationship.

Even though it is encouraged to have parental guidance in career choosing, I believe choosing the career as a student by yourself first, then discussing with your parents and seeking their support is the best way to go.